The slight increase in the reserves level was due mainly to the foreign exchange operations and income from investments abroad of the BSP. These inflows were partially offset by payments by the National Government (NG) and the BSP of their maturing foreign exchange obligations as well as revaluation losses on the BSP's gold holdings on account of the month-on-month modest decline in gold prices in June 2011.

The preliminary end-June 2011 GIR could cover 10.3 months worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It was also equivalent to 10.2 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.9 times based on residual maturity.1

Net international reserves (NIR), which include revaluation of reserve assets, reached US$69.0 billion as of end-June 2011, up by US$0.1 billion compared to the end-May 2011 NIR level of US$68.8 billion. NIR refers to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities.

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1 Short-term debt based on residual maturity refers to outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.

Followers

THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE

We've almost begun to take it for granted that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. But just as the environmental lobby think they've got our attention, a group of naysayers have emerged to slay the whole premise of global warming.

The present single-minded focus on reducing carbon emissions may have the unintended consequence of stifling development in the third world, prolonging endemic poverty and disease.